Less than four months away from the possession and sale of cannabis for recreational use being legal in Illinois, Springfield city leaders will soon begin debate on zoning restrictions that would dictate where facilities for cultivating and selling can go in the city and how tax revenue generated from sales will be spent.

In the opening salvo of what could be a months-long process, City Council members will take up two marijuana-related ordinances in their Committee of the Whole meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

The first outlines proposed updates to the city’s zoning code to allow recreational sales and cultivation in city limits. As drafted now, the zoning requirements would largely mirror the restrictive rules currently in place for medical marijuana facilities.

The second ordinance would impose an additional 3 percent tax on pot sales within city limits, the maximum allowed under state law. The tax would be added on top of the city’s current 9.75 percent sales tax.

The more concrete proposals come after months of informal discussions by council members, who hope to have ground rules in place before the law goes into effect on Jan. 1.

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